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I am told it was considered eccentric, in my day, to wash every morning. I scrubbed daily with a stiff brush, shaved with care, and was reputed to need several hours to dress. History calls this vanity. I call it maintenance, and I note that history now sells it back to you in very attractive bottles.
The modern bathroom cabinet has the opposite problem to mine. A man of 1805 had too little to choose from; a man of today has far too much, most of it in black packaging with the word “power” somewhere on the label. What follows is an edit: fifteen products across the whole routine, from cleanser to cologne, chosen for quality, good sense and a little character. Eight of them cost less than thirty dollars. One of them costs seven.
A note on method. Every description below draws on what the maker itself says about its product. Where the brand makes a claim, I have told you it is the brand’s claim. The jokes, I am afraid, are mine.
Ursa Major
Fantastic Face Wash
Also $26 for 4 fl oz
A foaming wash which, the makers say, delivers a deep, satisfying cleanse without stripping the skin. That is precisely what one asks of a good valet, and rather more than most valets manage. The label addresses you in French as well as English, which I, having spent my years of exile in Calais, take as a personal courtesy.
Best for The man who currently washes his face with whatever is nearest the shower.
Buy now →at Ursa Major
Jack Black
Double-Duty Face Moisturizer SPF 20
Also $32 for 3.3 oz, $18 for a 1.5 oz tube
One bottle, two duties: lasting hydration and broad-spectrum SPF 20, with antioxidants that the label says help defend against UV, blue light and pollution. I have always admired anything that does two jobs without asking for two salaries. The large pump bottle is for the committed; the tube is for the curious.
Best for The minimalist who will apply precisely one thing in the morning, and not a drop more.
Buy now →at Jack Black
Supergoop!
Unseen Sunscreen SPF 50
One-time purchase; also $19 for 0.68 fl oz
Supergoop calls it invisible, weightless and scentless, and invisibility is the highest compliment grooming can be paid. No gentleman should look as though he has been basted. The brand adds that it doubles as a primer, a word I shall leave to the ladies and the decorators.
Best for Men who swear they will wear sunscreen daily and then do not, because it feels like sunscreen.
Buy now →at Supergoop!
Henson Shaving
AL13 Razor in Aircraft Aluminum
Henson holds the blade at a fixed 30 degrees with, in the brand's own words, no springs, no moving head and no moisturising strips covering up a flawed design. One detects a certain contempt for the five-blade cartridge, which I share entirely. It is a single blade, held properly, which is also my view of most things.
Best for The cartridge refugee who is tired of paying a subscription for his own face.
Buy now →at Henson Shaving
Truefitt & Hill
1805 Shaving Cream Bowl
The tub bears the legend 'Est. 1805', which makes the house very nearly my contemporary and certainly the only thing on this list older than my debts. It is a glycerin-based cream scented with bergamot, mandarin and cardamom over lavender, sandalwood and cedar. The house recommends a badger brush, and so, emphatically, do I.
Best for The man who treats a shave as a ceremony rather than a chore.
Buy now →at Truefitt & Hill
Under $30
Beardbrand
Old Money Beard Oil
Also $39 for 4 fl oz
The brand says it smells of Gilded Age hardwood, peppery curtains, bright citrus and 'opportunity', which may be the most American sentence ever written about a bottle. Beneath the poetry sit jojoba, castor, abyssinian and babassu oils, aimed at beard itch, dry skin and beard dandruff. I was clean-shaven, naturally, but I am told the curtains are very good.
Best for The bearded, and those obliged to stand near them.
Buy now →at Beardbrand
Truefitt & Hill
West Indian Limes Cologne
Truefitt's citrus colognes date to the 1870s and, the house says, became favourites of Queen Victoria and her Court. I died some decades too early to be offered a bottle, and I regard it as a grievance. Lime and bergamot on top, lilac, lavender and rose beneath, in an etched bottle that would not embarrass a dressing table at Windsor.
Best for Warm days, linen suits and men who find most modern fragrance rather loud.
Buy now →at Truefitt & Hill
D.S. & Durga
Debaser Eau de Parfum
Also $80 for 10 mL
A fig fragrance which the house says was built on Black Francis coming through the radio in the August heat, a reference I shall let the younger readers explain. It opens on bergamot, green leaf and pear stem, turns to fig, coconut milk and iris, and settles on blond woods, tonka and moss. D.S. & Durga calls it juicy, humid and slightly wild, which is also how I would describe the Regency.
Best for The man ready to graduate from citrus without going straight to leather and smoke.
Buy now →at D.S. & Durga
Under $30
Baxter of California
Clay Pomade
Clay and beeswax for what Baxter describes as a strong yet pliable hold, recommended for straight, thick or wavy hair. I wore my own hair à la Brutus, tousled with evident intent; this is how one achieves the intent. Twenty-four dollars buys a great deal of looking as though you did not try.
Best for Thick hair that ought to look arranged rather than lacquered.
Buy now →at Baxter of California
Under $30
Dr. Squatch
Pine Tar Bar Soap
One-time purchase
'Rugged, woodsy, and strong, just like a Squatch man should be,' says the box, a sentence I shall not dignify with a reply. And yet: oat protein, jojoba oil and pine tar, a grit level the brand rates as heavy, and a price of seven dollars. I have paid more to starch a cravat.
Best for The gym bag, the cabin and the man who likes a scrub to feel like one.
Buy now →at Dr. Squatch
Under $30
Ursa Major
Hoppin' Fresh Deodorant
One-time purchase
Free of aluminium and baking soda, with what the brand calls a cool, zingy mint aroma. 'Zingy' is not a word I would use, but I would use the deodorant. It is the least glamorous item on this list and, in a crowded lift, the most important.
Best for The man moving away from antiperspirant who refuses to smell like a herb garden.
Buy now →at Ursa Major
Under $30
Davids
Premium Toothpaste, Peppermint
A metal tube, USA-grown peppermint oil, and no fluoride, SLS or artificial colours, according to Davids. Whether fluoride-free suits you is a matter for your dentist rather than your columnist. The tube, which one rolls up neatly like a letter, is a matter of taste, and it is excellent.
Best for The man who wants his bathroom shelf to look as considered as his wardrobe.
Buy now →at Davids
Under $30
Cocofloss
Delightful Mint Dental Floss
Refill $9
Woven floss with more than 500 expandable fibres coated in coconut oil, in a mint the brand calls 'the plain white tee of dental hygiene'. Flossing is the grooming equivalent of polishing the heels of your shoes. Nobody sees it done; everybody notices when it has not been.
Best for The man who lies to his hygienist twice a year.
Buy now →at Cocofloss
Under $30
Tweezerman
Classic Slant Tweezer
Perfectly aligned, hand-filed tips, says Tweezerman, and the award badges to prove it is not merely bragging. A gentleman's brows should look as though nothing whatever has been done to them. That requires, paradoxically, a good deal to be done to them, quietly and with the right instrument.
Best for The single rogue eyebrow hair, and the man who has finally noticed it.
Buy now →at Tweezerman
Under $30
Jack Black
Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25
SPF 25 with shea butter and vitamin E, which the brand says guards against windburn and extreme temperatures. Jack Black bills it as the best-selling men's lip treatment with SPF, citing Circana sales data. I bill it as the cheapest way to avoid looking as though you walked here from Calais.
Best for Coat pockets, ski lifts and the whole of February.
Buy now →at Jack BlackGrooming, done properly, should be invisible. Nobody ought to notice your cleanser, your sunscreen or your floss. They should simply notice that you look well, and wonder, a little resentfully, how.
Until next week,
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Follow on TikTokPrices shown are one-time purchase prices from each brand's US website as of 13 October 2026, for the size noted. Subscription prices, sales and codes may differ. Product images courtesy of the respective brands. Brummell's Journal may earn a commission on purchases made through these links.
